The Pakistan U-23 national football team is a youth football team operated under the Pakistan Football Federation. The team represents Pakistan in international youth football competitions in the Summer Olympics, AFC U-22 Asian Cup, Asian Games and the South Asian Games winning the 2004 and 2006 editions, as well as any other under-23 and under-22 international football tournaments, such as the AFC U-23 Asian Cup.[1]
The under-23 side won the gold medal at the 2004 South Asian Games held across 3 venues in Pakistan from March 28 to April 6, 2004. The tournament was the first to introduce an under-23 tournament system for the football events.[2]
Muhammad Essa ended the tournament as top scorer and was player of the tournament, and helped Pakistan win the gold medal.[3] His goal in the semi final against Sri Lanka which ultimately ended in a 1-1 draw until the penalty shootout took Pakistan all the way to the final against India, where Abdul Aziz's goal gave Pakistan a 1–0 victory.[4]
In the 2006 South Asian Games held across in Colombo, Sri Lanka from 14 to 26 August 2006, Pakistan again won the gold medal.[5]
After advancing from the group stages, Essa's strike against Nepal led Pakistan to the final against Sri Lanka, which ended in a victory for the Green Shirts thanks to a goal by Adeel Ahmed in the half time.[5]
Pakistan first participated in the 1992 Summer Olympics qualifiers, finishing last placed with Yemen, Qatar, UAE, and Iran within the group.[6]
In 2007, Pakistan thrashed Singapore in both the home and away legs by 2-1 and 3-2,[7] consecutively under the newly appointed head coach Muhammad Rashid,[7] and won the preliminary round of 2008 Summer Olympics first time in the history of Olympics.
The under-23 side participated in their first ever tournament during the 2002 Asian Games in Busan, South Korea. They were put into a group with Kuwait, North Korea and Hong Kong.[8]
The team subsequently felt short participating in the 2006, 2010, and 2014 editions.
FIFA restored membership of PFF on 13 March 2018.[9] With Asian Games approaching in August, the team had very little time to prepare. PFF announced the signing of new Brazilian coach José Antonio Nogueira and started camps in Lahore.[10] Then, the under 23 team along with 3 senior players flew to Indonesia in mid August to take part in Asian Games. On 14 August 2018, the team played its first group game against Vietnam, the then runner ups of 2018 AFC U-23 Championship, which resulted in a 3–0 loss. On 16 August 2018, the team faced a loss against Japan by a scoreline of 4–0. Pakistan defeated Nepal by 2–1 in their final group game which was the former's first win in Asian Games after 44 years.[11][12] Pakistan expected to qualify for knockouts being 3rd in the group. However, the team fell short in terms of Goal Difference.
For all previous match results of the national under-23 team, see the team's results page. The following is a list of match results in the last 12 months, as well as any future matches that have been scheduled.
Win Draw Loss
AFC U-23 Championship was initially set to be held as AFC U-22 Championships in 2013 and its qualification matches in 2012, but the finals tournament was postponed to be played in January 2014.[13][14]
